1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a galenic composition useful for alleviating the aftereffects due to an excessive intake of ethanol, commonly referred to as alcohol. More particularly, the present invention relates to a galenic composition useful for preventing and treating the aftereffects due to an excessive alcohol intake by stimulating alcohol metabolism, which comprises as the essential components puerariae radix, phaseoli radiati semen, small red bean, crataegi fructus, atractylodes rhizoma, cassiae semen, amomi semen, cnidii rhizoma, methae folium, malt and fructose.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Ethanol is one of the drugs which have been most generally used for a long time in human history. As to the pharmacological activity of ethanol it has been reported that ethanol has an effect of preventing coronary artery diseases by reducing the plasma concentration of low density lipoprotein (LDL) and increasing the plama concentration of high density lipoprotein (HDL) but may induce harmful effects in the human body when a person drinks ethanol in an excessive amount for a short or long time. Short term toxic effects of ethanol may cause an accident due to CNS depression and various motor disturbance, depression of myocardial contraction, gastrointestinal disorders, and the like. In addition, it has been well known that the metabolite of ethanol is one of the substances causative of hangover symptoms such as headache, vomiting, etc. Long term effects from a history of excessive alcohol use may induce alcoholic hepatitis and related hepatic cirrhosis, psychoneurological disorders such as cerebral damage, memory failure, sleeping disturbance, etc., fetal alcohol syndrome due to habitual drinking during the period of maternity, Wernicke encephalopathy, Korsakoff psychosis, polyneuritis, etc., due to malnutrition and vitamin deficiency, and the like. Today these undesirable toxic effects and after-effects due to excessive alcohol intake are treated by utilizing a popular remedy based on the administration of analgesics, agents for gastointestinal tract, high protein foodstuffs, etc.
However, although the use of such medicinal agents can alleviate the aftereffects of drinking alcohol, they have no effect of removing the basic cause of aftereffects through decomposition and excretion of alcohol component accumulated in the body, and therefore, are not helpful to remove or prevent various side effects and toxic effects due to aftereffects of drinking alcohol.
Thus, the present inventors have considered that in order to prevent and treat the aftereffects of excessive alcohol intake it will be necessary to use a medicinal agent which can rapidly decompose and excrete alcohol in blood to prevent any neurological toxic effects and also can regenerate cell tissues damaged by alcohol toxicity. Therefore, we have investigated natural crude drugs having such effects and then identified that the galenic composition of the present invention, as defined below, can exhibit an excellent effect for prophylaxis and treatment of the aftereffects due to an excessive alcohol intake. Then, now we have completed the present invention.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a galenic composition useful for effectively preventing and treating the aftereffects due to an excessive intake of alcohol by stimulating alcohol metabolism and supplying the nutrition and vitality to the cells.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a galenic composition useful for alleviating the aftereffects due to an excessive alcohol intake which comprises as essential components puerariae radix, phaseoli radiati semen, small red bean, crataegi fructus, cassiae semen, atractylodes rhizoma, amomi semen, cnidii rhizoma, menthae folium, malt and fructose.
Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide a process for preparing the galenic composition, as defined above.
The preceeding objects should be construed as merely presenting a few of the more pertinent and important features of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the brief description of the drawings and the detailed description of the invention, below, which describe the preferred embodiments in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.